Reconstruction of ripped-up documents using fragment stack analysis procedures

Abstract Reconstruction of ripped-up documents can be a very time-consuming task for forensic experts. Currently, this task is often carried out using various homespun or loosely defined procedures. Under the main assumption that a (partially) ordered set of fragments can be recovered, we propose an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forensic science international 2008-04, Vol.176 (2), p.124-136
Main Author: De Smet, Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Forensic medicine
Forensic sciences
General aspects
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Medical sciences
Pathology
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Reconstruction
Ripped-up documents
Stack analysis
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Summary:Abstract Reconstruction of ripped-up documents can be a very time-consuming task for forensic experts. Currently, this task is often carried out using various homespun or loosely defined procedures. Under the main assumption that a (partially) ordered set of fragments can be recovered, we propose and discuss a more formal analysis methodology for this type of reconstruction problem. We discuss several complications that can occur in real-life problems and illustrate the efficiency of the proposed methods. Although several avenues for further research remain, we show that the proposed approach offers both a better understanding of the problem, as well as important strategies for devising very fast manual and semi-automatic fragment reassembly procedures.
ISSN:0379-0738
1872-6283
DOI:10.1016/j.forsciint.2007.07.013